Tidal and Nontidal Fluctuations of Currents in the Western Channel of the Korea Strait

Abstract

We carried out simultaneous and long-time observations of currents across the western channel of the Korea Strait during the period of May, 1994 to September, 1996 in order to understand the spatial and temporal variability of tidal and nontidal currents in the Strait. Results show that currents in the Strait are quite variable in space and time, and they largely consist of mean current and diurnal and semidiurnal tidal currents of about equal magnitudes. The mean currents include the Tsushima Current and the Korea Strait Undercurrent at the center of the channel. The former occupies the upper two-thirds and the latter the lower one-third of the water column. The semidiurnal and diurnal currents are largely rectilinear in the direction of NE-SW and their amplitude variation across the channel appears to be small. However, the diurnal currents at some locations show rotational characteristics with significant nontidal effects. The station close to the Korean coast leads the phase and the phase difference of the semidiurnal current across the channel appears to be less than half an hour while that of the diurnal current is over five hours.